Another Time in the West, Ch. 03

The sun was rising to another day of tracking his quarry. Seth knew from the way the gang worked, that it was basically the same group that had pillaged and ravaged the area when his wife and daughter were killed as other victims. He had come to learn that this gang was often hired by a certain rich man that kept expanding his riches and holdings. Whenever something got in his way of mineral rights, lands and just got in his way of progress. Any in the way would end up suddenly almost haunted by rape, pillaging and murder. As much as was needed for people to leave the area or sell out.

Seth had come to realize the connection but could find no proof. When he had returned to find his own family killed, he had tried to catch the gang, but he was late and only real trace or trail had suggested the gang had moved to Wyoming. He was too late to track them, but he had followed all the other evidence he had, or suspension. All this had led to a paper trail, which was a bit out of his comfort zone, but had ended with the name of a solicitor. He had faced the man meaning to get information out of him, but he had been condescending and had just coldly said that losing a wife and daughter was just part of life on the frontier. In public a discussion about the need of proof and how Seth as a lawman was to understand this had ended in the solicitor belittling Seth to the mockery of people around but when it had ended with the solicitor remarking that Seth lack of understand was probably what both made him a failure both as a lawman and clearly also as a husband unable to protect his own family.

Seth heard a gunshot and saw the solicitor drop dead from a wound to the chest. He had looked down at his own right hand and just saw his hand per usual reflex doing his signature gun spin before replacing his weapon in its holster. He was about to give himself up on the crime but instead he had decided to go on the run, until the day he could give his wife and daughter justice, or at least retribution. This was the day he took the name Seth and let go of his old life. Seth had always been ambidextrous but favored his right hand after he broke his left hand. But from that day on, he started using his left hand for his gun, so as not to ever risk doing his gun spinning that people would recognize. In his time as a law man he had been in two fatal shoot outs and both always his gun spinning had been a big part of the talk and rumors, also pointed out and described vividly in news articles. As a young man, being very dexterous and agile, he had loved showing off and it had later been very helpful in disarming situations where would be assailants was discouraged by his great skill and speed. He had done this so much that by this time it was a reflex, he couldn't just holster his revolver, he had to spin it. It had become muscle memory so his right hand did it even before he could consider it.

Seth woke Natalie up saying it was time for more training but for her to go get a nice bath in the small stream nearby. He smiled at her with that fatherly look, the mentor Seth had become for Nate, but his eyes had a fire in them, and he let them go down her figure. Natalie sleeping in her clothes per ritual not so show that she was a girl, a young woman but Seth knew. Natalie felt shy at first, but she had felt an attraction since the first time she saw Seth. She had felt like a woman and for the first time had thought what that meant. She didn't want to go against her mentor's wishes. She calmly walked to the stream and slowly undressed until she was fully naked before smiling back at Seth and entering the small stream. It was no deeper than mid-thigh, but she knelt and proceeded to wash herself. The water was cool, cold even coming right down from higher up in the mountains, but she felt like her body was on fire and she kept her back to Seth but couldn't think of anything but hoping his eyes were on her.

Seth prepared a few targets of different sizes at ten to twenty paces, time for Natalie to learn to fire a revolver. He hoped he could keep her at a range from any danger, so only using a rifle would be needed. But being prepared for any eventuality was his creed. He often looked toward Natalie, feeling his eyes drawn there. He had the leftover beans ready, along with a blanket that Natalie could use to dry herself with.

He watched in awe as Natalie finally stood up and turned around and calmly even with a face blushed with shyness, she just calmly walked to get the blanket, letting Seth see her fully. She was perfectly shaped for a young woman, and if it wasn't for the very short hair she was by far the most perfect example of femininity. Seth thought about when he had fallen in love with his wife, her long hair and her figure were forever imprinted in his mind, heart and soul. Natalie had the same color of hair, he thought, he imagined if it grew long.

"Are you going to dry me?" Natalie spoke in a low soft sweet girlish tone and Seth woke from his thoughts. He was standing there with the blanket for her, and she just walked into it and he wrapped it around her. He started to dry her off, mesmerized by the feel of this delicate and perfect shape between his hands.

"My father would often dry me when my mother had bathed me" Natalie spoke and for a moment longer let herself be the young woman she was in her heart, knowing that soon Nate had to be there.

Seth could feel Natalie trembling under his hands, her body excited in ways she didn't understand. She just knew she liked this, she felt so safe, so exposed but still so safe. Seth realized his hands were starting to be more curious about this perfect figure than he should be. He calmly controlled and finished drying Natalie off and then ate his part of the leftover beans from the night before while watching the beautiful Natalie become the tiny young boy Nate. Seth had to blink a couple of times to be able to fathom the change.

While Nate ate his breakfast, Seth explained a realization that he had come to regarding the gang they were following. They were probably going home and not about to commit more crime. They would now be around family and friends, many maybe not aware of their criminal enterprise and how they had created their lives and how they still supplemented it. So, haste wasn't as important now as finding out which towns and settlements they spread out into.

"Time for practice with your revolver, I know you have practiced shooting and that is a good start, but I will teach you how to pick targets and in time how you draw and shoot as fast as you can." Seth explained in length but smiled at Nate that listened intensely, but Seth could see that practical training was better suited here than winding words.

Nate was very good at shooting targets of her own choosing but took a bit of practice to get the hang out of Seth calling out which targets to shoot at. Seth did make a change in the way Nate held his gun when shooting, taught him to use two hands instead of one. This improved his shooting rapidly. Targets had to be replaced, and the gun had to be reloaded repeatedly. But very quickly she had the hang of it but when the first misfire happened, she paused and stopped looked at Seth like what should she do, he just gave her a frown and said, "Did you shoot the target?" and she turned and shot again and hit but then looked at him puzzled at his question.

"Misfires will happen from time to time, you don't ever hesitate or freeze because of this, you go on. Many freeze and that is what gets them killed. But you did fine, you still hit so you didn't get rattled too much. You are doing very well" Seth said smiling at you Nate and giving her ass a soft pat, which Natalie instantly appreciated. Six targets remained, and Seth pulled his gun and was firing it before Nate saw his motion, six shots, and five targets fell but one remained.

"Get it Nate, one is still standing" Seth laughed out as he ordered Nate who was a little rattled this time but fired and hit the last target.

"No one hits every time and as a team we must work together, you cover for me, I cover for you." He said, smiling at her and then reloaded his gun and made sure Nate did the same. Before they headed out following the trail leading to Wyoming, and as Seth said, they would be in Wyoming by nightfall.

They continued at a steady pace, but Seth took a little more time to instruct Nate in all the skills needed to survive on the prairie and to understand how nature works. All from watching the sky, cloud formations, the wind in the trees. Reading the landscape and how it influenced the wind, which both influenced shooting at a distance but also where to seek shelter and especially where to avoid going.

When on horseback Natalie felt like she was Nate, just a young man learning from an older and wiser mentor, a father-like figure. But when they dismounted to walk the horses, cross a stream or just to have a break to eat, a whole new dynamic was forming. Seth would be kinder, more jovial, and with each stop more affectionate. Natalie started to appreciate both equally, being respected and taught as an equal but also treated like a lady, a woman. She could feel Seth's growing desire for her, even if she had never experienced this before. She could also feel her own body craving it more. When Seth stopped them, she would start to hope they would dismount, not that she needed a pause but so she could feel his tenderness and growing affection towards her.

Seth felt different, like everything around him was coming more into focus, becoming more colorful even. He didn't directly realize he was distracted but he felt off. Luckily the day went by without anything happening. A while he was mostly silent, but Natalie would often ask him things, point out something that puzzled her and he would snap out of his brooding and answer her. They came upon a nice spot near a river that was ideal for camping for the night. They set it up and Natalie, without being suggested or anything, just undressed completely as Seth was about to start cooking beans at the fire. She walked down to the river, which was wide and shallow here, probably frequently used for passing traffic. At this point the river was mostly plain, coming down some hills and maybe half a mile further starting to slope downhill again.

Seth had started to relax more than he ever had before in his life, and he was about to learn that there is no room for letting down your guard. What was ideal about this site for camping was that it was near a small group of trees, so it was in the shade of the hot sun. But it also meant that anyone, or someone could come up close to the campsite without being spotted, especially with your guards down and focus on the lovely young naked woman swimming in the river.

Suddenly three men stepped out from between the trees, one carrying a shotgun pointed right at Seth and the one nearest to him. The two other men with revolvers out mostly pointing it in Seth general direction but they were looking around for what they assumed had to be a second person in the group. Two horses and moreover, two saddles on the ground. Seth was kneeling at the fire stirring the beans, his weapon belt and gun on the ground beside him. Not being on his hip was a great disadvantage, no room for him to draw fast and do anything. The men never thought to look for the second person swimming in the river.

"Where are your partner? Don't tell us you are alone, we can see you are set for two people camping here" the guy with the shotgun asked while gesturing with his shotgun for Seth to raise his hands. Seth did so as he replied," Went foraging for herbs and roots" he looked between all three. His tone was so calm and cold that all three of them had their focus on him fully and checked that he had no weapons within reach, except for the gun in its holster on the ground beside him.

"Please don't hurt my daddy" Natalie ran out of the water shouting. She was completely wet and naked, water running down her perfectly shaped body. She didn't try to cover herself with her arms or hands but rather kept her hands on her hips, almost like a dual wielding gunman about to duel, her hands there when naked not threatening at all, but rather emphasizing her feminine figure and drawing the eyes of all three men.

Three loud bangs so close apart that at a distance it would be hard to separate individually. Seth had used this distraction to lift his holster up with his left hand and draw his gun with the right and shot all three men directly in the heart within little more than a heartbeat or two. The three men each meant to look to where the sound of gunshots came from, but they fell almost synchronously dead a couple of seconds later. Last thing each saw was some beautiful nymph-like creature coming out of the river, like you might hear about in Ancient Greek mythos or tales.

Natalie froze where she was surprised at the speed with which her distraction had been exploited. She had seen Seth reach for the holster, but she was amazed at how his right hand had pulled the gun and fired three times so fast in succession that only reason she knew it was three, was that all the men collapsed killed dead where they stood. Smoke was still coming from the pipe of his revolver when he quickly scanned the dead to ensure they were indeed unmoving and dead. Muscle memory even after all these years, had his hand twirling and spinning his gun in his signature way that he was known for long ago. He returned the gun to its holster and stood up.

He was barely up when turning to see if Natalie was ok, when she ran into his arms in a need to be embraced. He hugged her tightly and his hands instinctively started to roam and caress her body.

"Are you ok, sweety?" he asked looking into her eyes, not knowing why he called her this. She was sweet to him, more now than ever. She was unable to speak, having been genuinely worried that she was to witness Seth, the new father-like man in her life being killed before her very eyes. She wrapped her arms around his neck and forced her lips on his. He kissed her back and maneuvered them both down onto the ground where his bedroll had been rolled out for the night.

Natalie had never been with a man, had barely considered it. She had only ever allowed herself to dream of it. Last few days had changed this, and she felt her hands pulling on Seth's belt and knew what he had, to make her the woman she was meant to be. She barely had his pants open and pulled down when she felt his cock spring out. She marveled at it and took it into her hand and looked up at Seth to make sure he was there. She had seen two men take her mother by force a couple of days ago, seen how she was hurt and abused. Her mother had cried, and she clearly didn't want what they did, but she had had to accept it, to protect Natalie. Natalie on the other hand, didn't know why, she just knew she wanted this, more than anything.

"Take me, make me a woman" Natalie said it in her natural feminine voice but so demanding. She looked at Seth with a look on her face that took him by surprise. She was innocent, a virgin but it was like she knew she lived in an unyielding world where no room existed for tenderness and where a man and a woman must take and give each other what each need.

Seth was lost to a lust and need for Natalie that he didn't think he had in him. Something he thought had died with his family these years ago. He guided his cock to Natalie maidenhood and impaled her not sweetly, not tenderly, but with determination. He heard Natalie sigh and groan, and watched a single tear run down her cheek, but he saw a fierce and determined look on her face. She hesitated for a moment and Seth did so too, but then he felt Natalie lock her perfect legs around his waist and showed him that she was ready for more.

Another girl might have wished for slow lovemaking this first time and feeling tenderness and affection. Natalie didn't really know what she wanted but she got what she needed. Seth soon gave himself fully to Natalie, years of denied instincts to sorrow and loss. He was moving into her willing body, and she felt like she was on fire. She moaned her need and managed to grab Seth and pull him close to kiss. Their lips were melted together in a hot kiss when they grunted into each other's mouths as they both climaxed. Seth knowing he was giving his seed to this young woman, while Natalie was feeling something she had never felt before but knew she wanted to experience again. Seth slowed down and lay over Natalie for a while, her legs still locked around him. Suddenly the legs relaxed and almost felt like they fell away. Seth looked at Natalie's pretty face and saw that she had either passed out or fallen asleep. The intensity and depths of emotions she had been through too much for her. One moment enjoying swimming in the cool river and enjoying life, to the next thinking she is going to see the man she had come to admire, like, even love being killed. Only to see men killed instead and her man surviving, and then for her man to make her his woman.

Seth wrapped her in the blanket he had ready to dry Natalie in and let her rest. He took the beans off the immediate heat. He then proceeded to examine the three dead would be bandits. Taking whatever values, they had and checking any traces. Soon realizing that these men had nothing to do with the gang he had been following, that this was just another example of why life was risky and why you should ever be vigilant.

Seth got the two horses and put the heaviest guy over Dust-devil and the two other men over his own horse and then walked the horses a bit down river to where the ford ends and the river starts to get deeper and the current picks up as the landscape slowly falls. Throwing all three corpses into the river and letting the current take them away as far as that may be. But at least not attracting any carrion or wildlife smelling death.

Returning to the campsite, he spread dirt on the biggest pools of blood and hid most signs of the killings taking place. Not to hide it from anyone coming by but more to ease it for Natalie when she wakes up. Soon it looks pretty much as when they had arrived. Seth scanned the area for movement and then went for a brief scouting trip into the little wood to see where the three men came from. Hidden in a clearing in the middle where three horses and what seemed like a campsite used for a couple of days. Some supplies were stored away, and it looked like they had been hiding away here for a time and meant staying here a bit still. Seth would have preferred to return to Natalie and break the camp, but the sun was setting, and twilight was here, no time to look for another place. But also, it was unlikely that anyone would be coming this way.

Seath returned to Natalie. He didn't usually drink himself anymore, after he lost his old life, he had found oblivion in one bottle after another but after a while had concluded, it wasn't the way for him. He searched inside his saddlebags and knew what was on the bottom of it, rarely used items, wrapped in an old but lovely pretty silk scarf. In this bundle were a few items, an old burned and blackened picture, an exquisite black leather gun belt and holster and a pint size bottle of whisky meant for more medical applications.

He gently woke her up and told her to take a sip and swallow, then another, then another. She drank and coughed. She did feel almost feverish. She looked at Seth and smiled at him with love and affection and he kissed her briefly but so sweetly. Holding her in his arms and letting her eat some beans and another couple of sips of whisky and he tugged her down to sleep again. With a strength that surprised him, she held onto him and made him hold her until she drifted off to sleep. And for a while she seemed to keep holding onto him. Finally, he could move away and eat himself. He checked on the horses and the area. He reloaded his weapon and made sure everything was as it was supposed to be. He would never forget this, alertness was paramount, especially now. He looked at Natalie and felt his heart leap. He kept guard a while to ensure no one was coming to the small camp inside the wood and finally got behind Natalie and fell asleep with her in his arms.